? >> it's bad. you hurt your undercarriage. but spain and the undercarriage is not something any of us need. but i think that howard dean, we didn't have time to go back and get howard and stuff. but howard said the best deal the democrats are going to get is to go over the fiscal cliff. taxes go up, then you go the republicans in position where they're getting the lower taxes. then patti murray. >> i just hope that people are paying attention that what we are seeing is basically the best world for politicians, they put off the and then everybody is going to pretend, oh, it's something happened. and nobody in the meantime is representing the interest of the american people. you know, we've got both parties in a position to negotiate this is what we want, this is what we elected and they're doing everything they can to not pay attention to that and to go to their separate corners and to be separate and to pretend that their way is not the only way. >> and it could result in people being called into, like, their supervisor's offices and their supervisor goes, i'm sorry, people are actual

capital's marc andreesson, and jamie dimon. look at that -- >> in addition we have jerry webb. make us all -- the rest of us feel -- >> we have one -- >> you're an economist or something? you play on to have -- you can think about the 12-12-12 thing in the meantime because you're good at math. >> yeah. all that stuff. >> all right. >>> as we move closer to the edge of the fiscal cliff, every move is being magnified by the markets. president obama and house speaker john boehner spoke by phone on tuesday, exchanging new proposals. the president gave boehner a revised offer on monday, reducing his demand for new tax revenue from $1.6 trillion to $1.4 trillion over ten years. boehner responded with a plan that largely sticks to his original offer a week ago. reports say the white house has told republicans it would include an overhaul of corporate taxes in any budget deal. that hasn't been done before. in an exclusive interview with barbara walters of abc news, president obama says he still expects a deal before the end of the year. >> i remain optimistic that there are enough people of go

us throughout the program. and merry christmas. and -- >> same you to, as well, sir. and other holiday greetings. >> we don't pay you a lot for cnbc contributor, do we -- did we order you to be here? >> i'm contracturally obligated to not specify anything. >> not specify anything? here at 5:30 and all the way to 9:00. >> i knew that there would be trouble this morning. i got myself seated -- >> good. we'll squeeze you for everything you're worth. we needed a big name. >> big name. we got one. >> it day after -- for december 26. >> you're too kind. >> then here you are. >> here he is. >> what did you get? anything good? >> i have -- >> switch, lump of coal? >> he's a hanukkah guy. >> a lump of coal -- yes, but a lump of coal at some point probably worth something. tet rate we're going. >> that's right. you're -- no tree? >> i want a tree, my wife says they're too messy. >> the trees are messy. >> the needs needles -- >> you have the festivus pole. >> grievances -- >> you better go, sorry. >>> let's do the main headlines this morning. of course, there's only one main story this m

us this morning, as well. if you have the democrats quoting him, the republicans quoting him, we'll very where he comes down and where things stand right now. >> you do simpson-bowles now instead of the bowls-simpson? >> i looked it up on going.. the more often cited is simple is son-bowles. >> the journal has an interesting piece. they don't like corker for breaking rank. they say why are republicans negotiating this themselves? they say let boehner do the negotiations. anyway, you would be hard pressed to find something who sdn have aen opinion on the fiscal cliff. this weekend, the ahead of the imf said the united states is more vulnerable to its domestic trouble more than anything else happening in the eurozone. christine lagarde says a balanced approach is needed and she says don't kick the can down the road, which is rich coming from a european. >>> european trading the lower this morning. italy's prime minister mario monti, yes, the same one that is famous from all the anti-trust things back in the -- was that the '90s? >> the '90s, yeah. >> monti announcing he'll step down b